Day 1 in Tokyo

Ready to travel

We lost a whole night's sleep on the way over, but soldiered on regardless.  The flight landed at about 10.00 am and we got out of the airport and after a couple of false starts, exchanged our online vouchers for train tickets on the Keisei Skyline and purchased Pasmo cards - the equivalent of an Oyster.  The train was smooth and fast and at Ueno station we hopped on the metro to the stop nearest our hotel.   It was all well signposted and not nearly as scary as we had anticipated, apart that is from the number of people wearing masks and making you feel you've wandered on to the set of Holby City!   There are some interesting explanations for all the masks - all white - and worn by people of both genders and all ages.  We also noticed that it's the rare odd person who hasn't got their nose in their phone!

Phones and masks

The hotel is not far from the tube station and we got straight into our room.   It is functional and cosy.  In other words, no room to swing a cat.   We had to take turns to unpack and we shall take turns to sleep against the wall and clamber over the other in the night on the way to the loo!   The loo has a step in the threshold and I predict a stubbed toe or two.

After getting more hangers and unpacking we set off for the National Art Centre about 20 minutes walk away.  Interesting building and spacious.  We had hoped to go straight to the cafe for a snack lunch, but there was nothing but cake so we wandered out again and found a mini-market and bought a picnic which we had on a stainless steel bench outside the Art Centre.    Inside was a vast exhibition on two floors of the work of students from 5 art universities in Tokyo.  An interest range of subjects and styles and crowds of young people.

National Art Center

National Art Center 

Actually a sculpture, not a girl

A miniature girl - realistic model

Dog men

Paintings

By now we were getting quite tired so decided to look for an early dinner.   We wandered around a bit and decided on a restaurant that had several groups of Japanese eating there and a menu with pictures!   We had some difficulty interpreting the menu even with pictures and in the end decided to have what the people on a nearby table were having as it looked good.   We were served a large plate of stir fried rice and a large earthenware bowl of sizzling ingredients in soup.  All very tasty and spicy.  We also had six spicy dumplings.   It was all simple food, but good.  

Dumplings in spicy sauce

Soup with mixed ingredients and rice

The Crown lounge at Schiphol

In the lounge

A great display of klm houses. Probably well glued down. 

Off to Tokyo, Japan

Here we go again!   Another very short journey to a different part of the world.  I'm sitting at home with my bags packed.  Peter is packing is now and the taxi to the airport is booked for 8.00am.

Peter has been to Tokyo before and seen practically nothing but the inside of meeting rooms.  This time he has one day of meetings and 4 days of fumbling our way round the metro and sight seeing!   We have consulted the guide books (2), studied the maps (2), read many restaurant reviews (dubious) and watched countless videos on YouTube!  The video of people stuffing themselves into metro carriages was not heartening.   I've tried to learn 'hello', 'thank you' etc and think I may have just about mastered 'thank you'.  I think we shall be doing a lot of bowing and smiling and not much talking.

I have Google translate (Japanese) on my phone, Google maps and a Japanese sim for data to insert when we get there.   We should be OK!   Famous last words?  Sayonara!

Day 11: Going home

We had a long last day, not helped by the weather.   Rain all day and some of it heavy. 

We packed up and left Angers early and headed in the direction of Rouen.   We stopped in Alençon for coffee.   We parked in what looked like a reasonable part of town and couldn't see any cafés so popped into an open Charcuterie for advice.   After some pondering, they directed us further into the town and so we left the car and hoofed it through the rain.  The centre of Alençon was being dug up, all the paving had gone and 'pavements' were improvised from rolls of green plastic grass which were spongy with rain!   At last we found an open café, which of course was buzzing!   Even the tables outside were taken but we found a table in the back and were amazed at the efficiency of the staff.  We got served our coffee quickly and settled down to watch the inhabitants.   Clearly a popular Sunday place to meet and talk.

Back in the car we drove to Rouen where we salivated in anticipation of a lunch at the Art Museum.  We parked in an underground carpark of mysterious layout and emerged in a side street.  Art museums, in our experience, offer nice surroundings and interesting food.   We were wrong!  The 'restaurant' in this case was a snack bar and it was empty of food at 2.00pm.   We set off again through the rain and found a café open which had many menu items unavailable.  We opted for the fish dish, without much enthusiasm, and it turned out to be delicious - fillet of bream with vegetables and creamed potato in a light cream sauce.

Back then to the art museum which also had a mysterious layout.  We really wanted to skip the pietas and the agony and the ecstacy and go straight to the impressionists and the modern stuff.   It took a lot of floors and rooms but at last we began to enjoy ourselves!

It took a few attempts to get out of the car park and then we were on our way to Calais and the tunnel.  At the terminal the signs told us that there were delays on crossings.  There must have been earlier cancellations of trains because there was hardly a parking place to be had and the terminal building with it's loos and food outlets was heaving.   We bought coffee, used the loos and then gave up on finding somewhere to sit and eat our 'picnic' and retreated to the car where we showered the seats with baguette crumbs!   Good homemade sandwiches though of cheese, tomato and lettuce.

Then it was into the tunnel to Folkestone and a drive back to Norwich where we arrived at about midnight and emptied all the dirty washing on to the floor of the scullery - a depressing sight - and had a cup of tea!  

A very good holiday though.   A nice balance of time on our own and time with friends.

Day 10: Angers

I was up first this morning having had a bad night!   I was woken at about midnight by someone trying to open our front door followed by various people coming home late and making a noise in the corridor outside!   I was the one to go and collect the bread from the baker three doors away and we had breakfast and planned the day.  First stop was to check out the café Peter had seen online and it turned out to be the one we have been passing on a regular basis at the corner of the road.   We marked it for supper later.   We went to the grocer opposite and brought some walnut vinegar, which makes a great dressing and is very hard to find at home...and some greengages for our picnic on the way back to Calais.   Then off with the map to find the sights.  We started with the Opera house, which turned out not to be open, but we happened on a student demonstration of some kind - perhaps to do with the start of the university term.

The work of David d'Angers

At about this point we realised that we had been too optimistic about the weather and needed to go back to the flat for jackets.  We took the tram using the free tickets that came with our museum passes. We warmed up first with a cup of coffee in a café and then hopped back on a tram.  We wandered back again in the general direction of the centre and came across a flea market where we managed not to buy anything!   Then we realised we were getting near lunch time so we explored away from the centre.  Peter was quite keen on going down a particular street which I thought didn't look promising, but he was right.   We found a little old fashioned Italian restaurant and had an avocado and tomato salad followed by the best tagliatelle we have ever had - and a huge portion to boot!    We had thought to follow our meal with an affagato but we didn't have the room!    Then to the Musée des Beaux Arts which was a confusing building with a strange layout and a plan we couldn't follow.   At one point we got 'told off' for going the wrong way round the museum and the security woman followed us everywhere!   It wasn't very relaxing.   From there we went to the David d'Angers exhibition which contains the plaster casts of statues and busts of the famous by a sculptor called David.   It was housed in an interesting building and we learned a bit about the carving and casting process.  We took a rest over a cup of lemon tea in a small tea shop.

The castle and the drawbridge

Next stop was the Chateau and the Apocalypse tapestry.  It was vast and wasn't easy to understand until we saw the film just off the gift shop, which is where we should have started.   That was just about enough for one day and we wandered back for a bit of a rest before going out for dinner to the Gustave on the corner where we had a good meal.

Day 9: Bordeaux to Angers

We left Bordeaux and let the SatNav do the work of taking us to Angers.   It only went wrong a little bit!   We stopped at Parthenay for lunch and hit upon just the kind of small, provincial French restaurant you always hope to find for lunch.   Lovely, friendly, smiling waitress, warm atmosphere, brown decor and full of French!   We had paté Maison followed by omelettes and sauté potatoes and coffee.  We were very happy!

We went straight to the tourist office in Angers, situated right by the Chateau, which looked vaguely familiar.   We are not sure if we have been to Angers before or not.   We got the map and a bargain ticket to all the museums and a pass for the tram so we are all set up for a day of sightseeing tomorrow.

We found the apartment, but couldn't make the key work until we alerted the owner, who called his friend the artist who's workshop is next door!   He came out and helped us.  The apartment is bijou!   Small and tasteful with an excellent bathroom and just enough in the way of things in the kitchen to be able to make a simple meal.  We decided this would be a good idea after all the eating and drinking we have done over the last week.  We went shopping and then had a glass of wine in a café and then came back to the apartment and made salad with cheese, bread and fruit.

The apartment in Anger

Compact! 

Day 8: Bordeaux

BORDEAUX

Joelle and Patrick were up early...Peter and I less so, but eventually we all had breakfast and set off in their car to explore Bordeaux.  We drove to a car park at the university and took the tram into the city.  We wandered round impressive streets and admired all the restored buildings, the wide expanse of river, an infinity pool that spouted water vapour, and many fine squares.

We stopped for coffee and made our way in the direction of lunch at la Cité du Vin.  We went up to the 7th floor and admired the view over the river and an unusual bridge that goes up horizontally to let shipping through.   We had a very good meal and a good bottle of wine to celebrate Patrick and Joelle's wedding anniversary.

Monument aux Girondins

The four of us at one of the city gates

When we came out it was extremely hot!   We took a tram to the opera and went inside to look at the entrance. Then on to the cathedral.   Joelle took pity on me and she and I went to the cathedral by tram.   I was wilting in the heat!  On the tram on the way back to the car a young man engaged us in conversation.  He was keen to use his English I think and wanted to know what we liked about Bordeaux and France.   We have noticed how much friendlier people are in Bordeaux in comparison to Paris.

On the way back to Patrick and Joelle's we did a little shopping and then arrived back at the house for a cold drink and a rest.   Joelle made another tasty evening meal which we ate outside.   There is always plenty to talk about!